The 2022 Winter Olympics in China are just under way, and we already have our first wipe-out on a ski slope. Except in this case, it’s not a skier or a snowboarder crashing, it’s what appears to be a runaway Sony Alpha a1 camera doing an end-over-end roll down a mountain during an event.
Check out the below video posted on the NBC Olympics’ Facebook page this morning, which shows Sony’s 50-megapixel flagship mirrorless camera tumbling and spinning down the slope unbeknownst to fellow photographers and spectators at the Games. As you’ll see, one photographer (also a Sony shooter) does spot the out-of-control camera and manages to corral it before it does further damage to itself.
Hockey hasn’t even started at the Olympics yet and that could be the greatest save of these Winter Games!
We’re not sure if any damage was done to the poor a1 but the photographer who it belongs to should be thankful Sony upgraded the durability and weather-sealing on this full-frame beast. In their review of the Sony a1, our colleagues at Imaging Resource praised the camera’s design though they didn’t quite put it through the stress test we see below.
So, can the Sony a1 take a licking and keep on clicking? We’ll let you know if we find out more about this particular snowy camera though the photographer may be too embarrassed to admit their mistake. The a1 is, after all, a $6500 camera not to mention the pricey zoom lens that’s attached. Definitely NOT a gold medal photography performance, we’d say.
